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Talk:My Hero/@comment-3575890-20140624171442
Ranking my top 10 OUAT characters. This is probably going to be long as fuck, but hopefully not too long-winded. XD 10. What I love about Aurora is that she's not conventionally badass. She doesn't know how to wield a sword and she can't take care of herself like a lot of the other heroines on here, but that won't stop her. She'll throw herself into combat regardless of whether or not she's qualified to win because she's a fighter, even if she doesn't know how to fight. She's strong-willed, resents being treated delicately even though she is fragile physically, aspires to be self-sufficient even if she isn't and underneath that veneer of sweetness, is one fierce little princess with a whole lot of grit. 9. Compared to the veteran villains of the past, Pan is pretty one-dimensional. Unlike Regina and Rumple, there is no actual humanity in him. He is evil incarnate, and that is what makes him fucking awesome. Complex, multi-faceted villains are always fantastic, but simply evil villains with no redeeming qualities whatsoever are also a lot of fun and Pan is the first villain of this show that lives up to that true villain archetype. 8. Red is such a boss ass bitch. Even before I saw her fairytale self in action, I just plain loved her spunk and vigour. She doesn't adhere to anyone's expectations. Instead she is her own person whom marches entirely to the beat of her own drum, but whom also possesses a level head on her shoulders and a strong set of principles all on her own merits. Her backstory is also incredibly heartbreaking and sheds some light on her personality. 7. With Belle in my top three Disney princesses, naturally her OUAT counterpart makes this list. Basically, for the same reason that I love Disney Belle, I love OUAT Belle. She is gifted with the sight into the souls of others; the ability to see the good in even the most monstrous of people. She's insightful, compassionate, caring, understanding, and nurturing and these qualities enable her with the ability to bring out the best in other people - even those that have lost their way. 6. Who doesn't love Henry? He's just so adorable and such a shining beacon of hope and optimism. He has the stubbornness of his mother - never once allowing anyone to sway him in his belief about the townsfolks' roots, he has the honor of his grandfather, always placing the utmost priority on the greater good, and he has his grandmother's selflessness, willfully sacrificing himself by eating the cursed apple, just as Snow had done so many years ago to save Charming, for the welfare of the townsfolk of Storybrooke. 5. It was honestly hard for me to choose between Charming and Snow because I love them both so much - almost with equal measure - but there is just something about Snow that gives her an ever-so slight edge over Charming. So why do I love Charming? Because there simply nothing to NOT love. He's loyal to a fault, sweet, patient, understanding, loving, honorable, courageous, selfless, and of course: so charming that he's been given that very word as a moniker for himself. 4. There's always that one character your heart swells with pride and affection for whom could never do any wrong in your eyes. Snow White is one of those characters for me. It's quite ironic how a Disney character I was so indifferent to, if even in my top five least favorite Disney characters of all time, could end up becoming one of my favorites in a different incarnation. Like in the traditional tale, Snow is caring, selfless, compassionate, nurturing, basically every conceivable quality on the spectrum of good, but where the similarities between her and Disney!Snow end is that she is no damn Marysue. She's flawed. She makes mistake and her judgment isn't always the best. And on top of her humanitarian qualities, she is a straight up force to be reckoned with. She is skilled with a bow and arrow; those of which she's used to rescue her prince as many if not more times than he's had to rescue her. But in her acts of heroism, she also vows to keep within her moral code and will only break it under the most extreme of circumstances thus she's a badass with honour and integrity. 3. I have both Hook and Rumple placed at number three because I honestly cannot choose between them. For the longest time, Rumple was my third favorite character for reasons that honestly don't even warrant an explanation, but I'll get into it anyway. He's probably one of the single most well-developed, well-rounded, paradoxical and fascinating characters I've ever seen of anything. There are so many sides to him - each one more telling of his true character, whom honestly can't even be summed up in a basic description as he simply cannot be pidgeonholed into a formulaic character. With each new development and/or change in trajectory, one can see that there is no shortage of things to learn about Rumplestiltskin. He is an enigma of a man. One that is ruthless, passionate, loving, loathing, self-deprecating, self-important, contrite, unapologetic, vengeful, forgiving, quirky, facetious, selfish, selfless...I can't even properly describe him without sounding as though I'm firing off random qualities of like ten different people. One cannot simply describe him in so few words and that is what makes him an incredible character. Then there's Hook. Oh, sweet mother of Jesus. Hook is basically the Damon Salvatore of OUAT. Not that I would ever downplay the individualism of either character by lumping them in with each other, because neither one is a carbon copy of the other. They are their own persons and they are both amazingly complex in their own ways, but one cannot simply deny the similarities between the two of them. I loved Hook right from the gate for the very same reasons that I loved Damon Salvatore from the start despite that they were truly reprehensible human beings in the beginning stages of their character development. Hook started off as one-dimensional as they come, but then, through some honest introspective examination, proceeded to show more depth and multi-layered complexity as time went on. I loved Hook as a villain, but there's just no comparing that preconceived first impression of him to the real deal, which is actually a really fucking amazing guy. Turns out underneath that veneer of snark, arrogance, and alpha male bravado, is a complicated psyche fuelled by self-hatred, uncertainty, and crippling loneliness. As we learn more about Hook, we discover that he's actually been celibate for centuries out of respect to his departed first love Milah, that everything he's done, he's done for love, that when he loves, he loves hard without condition or irrevocability, that he's actually not only immensely sensitive but can be sensitive to the feelings of others as well, and finally is willing to go to great extremes for the people he loves, even if he must make sacrifices at his own expense. 2. There are times when I love Emma so much that she comes incredibly close to being my all-time favorite, and if it wasn't for Regina in all of her beautifully-written, wonderfully complex glory she would be. Hands down, Emma Swan is one of the best female protagonists of anything ever. Despite coming from royalty, she's not your typical warm and fuzzy fairytale princess. She's predisposed to distrust everyone and safeguards her heart like her life depends on it. Having grown up most of her life believing she was abandoned and that the first person she loved never loved her, (consequently breaking her heart so badly that it ruined her for other relationships) she's very emotionally damaged as the result. The girl has had such a difficult life that it is no wonder that she has such a cynical perception of love/relationships that influence her to push anyone that gets too close away. She's so broken and yet so incredibly strong in every aspect. She's been on her own all of her life, she stands up for the underdogs and speaks out against any injustice, she would readily pistol whip a bitch before letting anyone fuck with her, and she will go to her grave before allowing any harm to come to her loved ones. She is also gifted with extraordinary abilities that make her powerful, but not invincible, which is a very important distinction that so few show runners and novelists get right with magical heroines. An all-around good person as she is, she has no shortage of flaws. Admittedly though, there is nothing I don't love about Emma Swan. Even her qualities that frustrate me such as her pessimism, stubbornness, abrasiveness, impulsiveness, or her plethora of personal issues that affect her relationships with others such as those of trust, abandonment, intimacy, self-expression - I could never hold any of it against her because they all add up to one complex, brilliantly empowered and wonderfully relatable heroine in the end. 1. Regina has been my favorite from day one. Much like Hook, even when she was just a villain with no backstory yet to be told or any perceivable redeeming qualities, I just plain fucking loved her. I can't even rationalize it. There was just something about her that endeared her to me almost instantly. Even on a surface level, she's just an incredibly awesome character. Brazen, vivacious, sassy, edgy - you can't help but love her, but it isn't until you peel back the first dozen layers, that you get to the true beauty of her character. Regina is a type of character that you have to know every last detail of her life story before you can properly understand her psychology as her psyche is grounded in her upbringing, life's pitfalls, and a parentally-instilled twisted moral code. Essentially, the villain Regina grows into is merely a reflection of the environment she was raised in and the cruelty shown to her by her mother, the one person who should have built her up, but rather tore her down and destroyed her one shot at happiness for the next decade. Not only does Regina lose her first love, but also the life she yearned for instead being forced to marry a man she did not love and mother a child that played a role in the deconstruction of her life. It would have driven anyone to insanity, and so it did. All of her rage and anguish began to corrode away at her humanity until all that remained was a void that nothing other than vengeance could ever fill - that is until Henry. The most tragic thing about Regina's character is that everyone she loves leaves her. Her grip tightens on Henry the closer Emma gets for fear of losing yet another person she loves, and the death of her first love Daniel set about the chain of events that shaped her into the Evil Queen she became from the sweet, gentle-hearted girl she once was in the first place. Just as Daniel was all that she had then in the midst of a miserably sheltered life and an abusive, overbearing mother and when he was ripped from her, her innocence was taken along with him, Henry is all Regina has in the present and in her desperation for history to not repeat itself once more she clings to him with the utmost tenacity. This is where we truly catch a glimpse of Regina's humanity and understand what she's about. Everything she does is for love in some way or other. She just wants to be happy. She has a shot at that with Henry and for that, she can't bear to be without him only *SPOILER SPOILER* she does. The one person in the world who gives her life purpose and meaning, she willfully lets go for the sake of his happiness conveying that, as morally dubious as Regina is, nobody loves more fiercely, deeply, and unconditionally than her. Even without her physical heart, her capacity to love knows no bounds.